A stunning, crowdsourced revival of the ‘See America’ tourism posters

You might’ve seen an original ‘See America’ in the wild at some point in your life – you know, those awe-inspiring, wanderlust-inducing posters of America’s most treasured natural and man-made beauties. The original vintage posters were created in the mid-1930’s in response to the Great Depression, with the Works Progress Administration and its Federal Arts project joining together to provide artwork for public buildings while helping struggling artists at the same time.

The project created some stunning iconic artworks, with a large collection of the posters now on display in the Library of Congress.

Back in the 30’s, the government commissioned a handful of posters for only the most famous national parks, but CAN reckon there’s plenty more that are deserving of beautiful artwork. So, teaming up with sponsors, National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), they’ve invited artists from all 50 US states to submit artwork depicting their favourite park or natural landscape.

What has resulted is an ongoing, completely refreshing collection of pieces to celebrate America’s national parks and other treasured sites, using a variety of new mix of digital techniques, but all vaguely reminiscent of the original 1940’s style. Exhibits are being planned across the country, with all the designs permanently available for sale as posters, tote bags and more, with 40% of the proceeds going directly to the artists involved.

Cape Cod National Seashore by Susanne Lamb
Devils Tower National Monument by Brixton Doyle
Golden Gate National Recreation Area by David Hays
Montana by Victoria Fernandez
Statue of Liberty National Monument by David Garcia
The original See America poster from 1938 that inspired the project
Yellowstone National Park by Matt Brass
Yosemite National Park by Naomi Sloman

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